First Duathlon of 2017..Worcester/Peopleton Duathlon

Peopleton Duathlon 

Organised by Worcester Triathlon club, Peopleton Duathlon is a great local early season duathlon consisting of 4 mile run, 18 mile bike, 2 mile run. This race always generates a lot of local interest and has been going several years. 

Eleven members of Malvern tri club braved the winds and early season challenge. Some of them taking on their first multi sport event, some of them first duathlon, and some of them seasoned multisporters !

A good turn out from the club

Pre race

I took an extended warm up knowing that I would have to hit the ground running on this short race compared to all the endurance racing and training to last year. 

Run 1

Start of run 1, lets do this.

I started strong and was able to hold it for the 4 miles. I came into transition first female...I was really pleased with this. Race buddy Debbie Bradley was racing today and I know she is a really strong cyclist, so I needed to have a good first run. I wasn't sure what pace I was running at as I had set my Garmin to Triathlon mode, so the watch thought I was swimming ! oh well, good to go on feel sometimes. At the turnaround point I realised on the second lap of this run I noticed I was ahead of all of my club mates bar 1, Cliff. Ah, I was considering using one or two of the other fellas as pacers !! Cliff would be way too fast for me to keep in my sights, oh well, time to race my own race.

Nervcited! Tongue out, concentrating leaving T1

T1
This went well, 'nervecited' as I had brought my new Giant Envie road bike along to race instead of my TT bike. As it was new, I just fancied having a go at this race on it, trial a different saddle etc. (only had half an hour on this bike 2 days before this race!)









Bike leg

It was a fast start with the wind behind us, the bike felt great, light, fast and really responsive, but instinctively I wanted to get down on TT bars which of course weren't there! Considering I haven't had a bike fit I was also really comfortable on this bike. About 9 mins into the bike leg the inevitable happened....'Go Viks' was what Deb shouted as she came past me!! I pushed on, couldn't catch her but could just about see her all the way round so it was great and gave me motivation to continue racing hard.
I really enjoyed this ride and managed to overtake a few fellas along the way. Conclusion....
I love my new bike!

Whoosh!

T2

Smooth dismount

Feeling confident I went for the flying dismount ! Which resulted in very wet socks/feet for the final run but it was a smooth landing and smooth T2. 

Run 2

Surprisingly my legs felt great, but my feet were very cold and wet and feeling a bit stump like. A chap running in front of me asked me if his legs were actually there! I went past him,....a couple of minutes later he passed me ....he obviously found his legs. 

I started to fatigue about a mile in, which is unlike me as I generally have a better second run than first, so I'm guessing this is just due to it being early season and not enough training in my legs yet. Having said that other than the legless man overtaking me I didn't lose any more places and ran 7 min mile pace which was still pretty good. I couldn't catch Debbie, she was looking really strong on this final run. I realised I was going to have to settle for second place but didn't let it stop me from pushing, I wanted a good finish time. 

Still working

I finished second female overall , and was really pleased with that. I feel I had a really good race, fell in love with my new bike and really enjoyed the morning. I was second home for the club, with Cliff being first and winning the male Super Vet category., he really is a super vet! Jayne won the female Super Vet category. Wine and prize money for all three of us.

The club did well

Thanks to Echelon cycles for selling me a beautiful bike frame, Ron for building the rest of the bike up perfectly for me, Neill for all his input, Debbie Bradley for providing a race target, Richard for the photographs and the rest of the club for fab camaraderie and support....whens the next race?

2017....the year I become a successful triathlete!..(PMA) !

Let training commence....(again)

Showing off 

I took a clear break from training over Christmas and New Year and enjoyed vegging out with friends and family and enjoyed a few social rides and runs, plus of course some fantastic walks on the Malvern Hills sporting my World Champion Rainbow stripes Big Bobble hat!






It was great whilst it lasted, then came the first week into January and I was chomping at the bit to start some regular specific training again.

I'm now four weeks into some base training with my spring goal being the European long distance duathlon championships in St. Wendel, Germany on the 21st May.

However, my big goal this year is to finally spend some time swimming, and become a triathlete. I have booked a middle distance triathlon in August. So, from week one this year I have been factoring 2 swims per week into my training schedule. One of which is technique focused with the Malvern Triathlon club coaches.

So on this fourth week into my schedule I have taken things a bit easier and instead concentrated on 3 main sessions and produced some 'benchmark' times

OK so I need to work on my 120 degrees

Swim 400 and 200 yrd TTs in the  pool to give me a CSS pace (picking up the jargon!) Tempo trainer ordered and podcast downloaded. Mirrored/tinted goggles needed before the OW season starts.

Bike 10 mile TT, (slow, but I'm blaming the winter bike, cold weather, multiple layers of clothing and a lumpy course for that) Summer road bike cleaned, serviced and ready for sale. New bike frame purchased, just awaiting a few more wage packets to buy the remaining vital parts !

Run I raced the Raceways Mad Dash 10k this weekend for a 10k benchmark. It didn't seem an impressive time but I was 2nd lady to finish so a pretty good start to the season. This was  a really enjoyable and very well organised event, a 20k option was also available.
Decision on new 'race day' trainers needed to be made before May !

Mad Dash 2nd lady